Bluesky, the social networking alternative co-founded by Twitter-runs-Jack-Dorsey, unveiled its new verification system Monday. This initiative aims to affirm the identities of notable individuals and organizations on its platform, ensuring that users can trust the authenticity of accounts they interact with. The change is a move in the right direction, signaling Bluesky’s commitment to creating a credible and trustworthy space for its users.
This verification system is meant to foster an open dialogue about how public figures and organizations should be verified when representing themselves on social media. By adopting this decentralized system, Bluesky is betting that it will be able to better prevent impersonation and misinformation. The verification badge, which features a blue-and-white design, will serve as a visual cue to users that an account is authentic. Among those granted Trusted Verifier status are some of the most prominent news organizations. This designation gives them the ability to help the public authenticate their journalists’ accounts.
Trusted Verifier Status Granted
microblog Bluesky has issued Trusted Verifier status to a handful of approved organizations. This very short, elite list includes The New York Times, CNN, The Wall Street Journal, and Bloomberg. This designation allows these networks to conduct identity verification processes for their employees working on the platform. Software engineer at Bluesky, Samuel Newman, noted on social media that many other news organizations had gotten this designation too. An example is Wired and The Athletic, two of the winners.
Despite the initial rollout, Bluesky has not disclosed any additional partners who will have early access to the verification system. This lack of transparency puts into serious doubt the program’s expansion into the future. The company is clearly committed to building a strong verification system as it continues to develop.
In its continuous effort to enhance user safety and authenticity, Bluesky has empowered organizations and individuals to set a domain as their username since 2023. Over 270,000 accounts have taken advantage of this feature, further supporting the platform’s mission to ensure verified identities.
Enhancing Credibility in Social Networking
The rollout of this new verification system is part of a bigger wave sweeping through social media platforms. This second trend is all about combating misinformation and increasing user trust. Hunter Walker, an independent media professional who participated in Bluesky’s pilot verification process, had a great take on this. He added, “No one at Bluesky has ever spoken with me regarding verification. I certainly have a ton of legwork done if they’d like to!
Walker expressed hope that the verification process would eventually lead to a unified source of credible verification for all platforms. As he put it, “We’ll stop when we don’t need to anymore. I really do hope that this ends up culminating in one clear, widely-adopted source of credible verification.”
The second major piece of the puzzle that is behind the scenes but critical to this entire ecosystem is the role of trusted organizations as verifiers. With growing concerns over misinformation on social media, Bluesky’s approach may serve as an essential step toward fostering trust among users.
Design Choices and Future Prospects
Bluesky’s verification badge features a blue-and-white color scheme that aligns with the platform’s existing branding. Based on user testing, the company tried out several badge colors, even going so far as a shade of green. In the end, blue made sense with their overall aesthetic and artistic vision. This decision demonstrates Bluesky’s commitment to brand consistency without sacrificing a useful search tool for the user.
As the platform continues to evolve, it faces the challenge of expanding its verification system without compromising trust or transparency. Recognition counts, and definitionally major outlets of record such as Politico and MSNBC still haven’t been graced with the blue-and-white verification badge. These uncertainties create important questions around what criteria should be used to grant Trusted Verifier status.
Bluesky’s CEO, Jay Graber, has in the past made a point to emphasize the significance of this new verification endeavor. The company is committed to ensuring that its verification processes remain a vital component of user interactions on the platform.
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